Our Summer seasonal, Trade Winds Tripel is a Belgian-style Golden Ale with a Southeast Asian twist. Instead of using candi sugar (typical for such a beer), we use rice in the mash to lighten the body and increase the gravity, and spice with Thai Basil. The result is an aromatic, digestible and complex beer made for a lazy summer evening.

Pours neutral colour with some head. Salad dressing aroma,such as oregeno and that's what's delivered. Taste: Sundried tomatoes, olive oil and olives, and some rice, and some other spices. Above average mouthfeel. Its drinkable, but not to much, and would not seek it out again.

Pours a murky orange with a khaki head that settles to a film on top of the beer. Small streaks of lace form around the glass on the drink down. Smell is of grain, spice, yeast, and some herby/basil aromas. Taste is much the same with a mild bitterness on the palate with each sip. This beer has a good level of carbonation with a crisp mouthfeel. Overall, this is a good beer that is pretty refreshing.

Pours a light golden color with a nice white head and a pretty good amount of lacing. The nose brings forward citrus, herbs, and a good amount of basil. Maybe I wouldn't have noticed it as much without the note on the label, but it is definitely quite prevalent. The taste brings some light citrus, fruit, and basil. Nice clean and crisp mouthfeel with good carbonation. Really unique and drinks quite well.

A: It poured cloudy pale yellow in color with only a few bubbles floating on the surface.S: There are aromas of citrus and floral hops in the nose along with some hints of spices and yeast.T: The Thai basil really stands out in the overall taste and the hops contribute some citrus flavors and a slight amount of bitterness. There is also some sweetness from the malts.M: It feels light- to medium-bodied and very smooth on the palate.D: The beer is not too difficult to drink because the alcohol is well masked. I would definitely try it again given its unique flavors and the use of basil.

T: Very complex spicey aftertaste but also the alcohol seeps through a little too much here. Seems to me so many tripels have the spice up front but this one was more dominant in the finish. orange citrus as well.

M: Moderate to high carbonation and light to medium body.

O: A nice tripel. I think the spice character is excellent but it is a little overshadowed at times by the alcohol that comes through.

From inspirations found in China and Italy, this American-made but Belgian-style Tripel ale really steps outside of its comfort zone for added lightness and soft spiciness.

There's much to suggest that Tradewinds Tripel is as much of a Witbier as it is a Tripel. And that starts with its cloudy canary-yellow pour. Creamy from the start, its milky body slowly releases a tall column of billowing foam. Airy, light and cottony- the beer shows ample Belgian "white" character. Long in its retention and strongly concentric in its lace, its a well-built beer... at least to the eye.

Strikingly floral and fruity, an aura of honeysuckle, cookie dough, oranges and citrus blossoms swirl about the nose. Its bready undertow and earthen grass and vegetative notes offer complex aromatic notes but do little to step outside of what's common in Tripel. Much of its spice still come across as hops.

But in taste, the beer's uniqueness begins to pull from the fold. Its bready sweetness is firm but not heavy. Fortunitely there's enough pilsner malt to keep the rice from providing the ill-faded "emptiness" that's common in most rice-infused beers. As the beer glides across the middle palate, the fruit and spice interplay comes to life as oranges bounce off of coriander, lemons do similarly with grassy tones. Apples to its unique herbaceous taste and tropical fruits to spicy white pepper- all these symbiotic relationships explode as the beer dives into a semi-sweet finish of mild hop bitterness and white wine vinous taste.

Medium bodied, I expected the ale to provide lighter textures because of its rice "lightness" and its promise of sprite carbonation. But is champagne character is just as creamy as it is effervescent and its light rice body is minimal. This really allows the creamy ale to extend well into finish where its the slight vegetative astringency, alcohol warmth and drying hop sensation to clean up after itself with an aftertaste of... there it is- basil! ...and perhaps grassy chlorophyll as well.

Oddly, when a beer maker sets out to make an "imperial" Witbier, its ends up a boozy, syrupy and sticky mess. But without hardly trying, the Bruery created one but based off of Tripel framework instead. I rather like the beer, but not so much as a Tripel. I also like it that the experimentation factors here don't define the beer, just offers a glimpse.

Bottle: Poured a deep golden color ale with a large off-white foamy head with good retention and good lacing. Aroma of sweet malt with some candi sugar traces and a nice spicy yeast with some subtle alcohol ester. Taste is a nice mix between some candi sugar and some peppery yeast and some light alcohol traces. Full body with great carbonation. I must admit to having been really surprise by how well this beer was drinking and apart from a lack of fruity ester I thought it was a great realization.

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

The aroma is exactly as expected given the ingredients. Trade Winds Tripel smells like a classic Belgian tripel (golden fruit and spice), with an herbal undercurrent that just has to be Thai basil. Let's hope that twist works out as well on the palate as it does in the nose.

The Bruery's goal was to brew a lighter than usual, easy drinking, summertime 'Belgian-style golden ale' by jettisoning the candi sugar and by using rice. Mission accomplished. The inspired use of Thai basil gives the beer an offbeat, interesting quality that causes it to stand out from the crowd. Not that Southern California is crawling with Belgian goldens.

In spite of the lightness, the flavors are still bold... and beautiful. Sweet-tart pears are accompanied by lime zest, ground clove, white pepper and... uh... Thai basil. Apparently, that herb tastes like licorice (which I can appreciate) and mint (which I can't). The finish is semi-crisp and ultimately drying. This is one complex summer seasonal that is disappearing like nobody's business.

They haven't gotten it exactly right yet, but this is the most properly carbonated beer that I've had from these guys yet (Black Orchard and Orchard White were grossly overbubbled and Autumn Maple was essentially flat). This one was too jumpy initially and is too laid back now that I'm at the halfway point of the bottle. Oh well, at least it passed through the perfect zone for a few mouthfuls. And truthfully, it isn't too bad now.

I like the fact that The Bruery brews outside the box and usually pulls it off. If they ever figure out how to carbonate, look out! Trade Winds Tripel is a damn good beer that isn't too far removed from greatness. Especially when compared to most American versions of my favorite Belgian style.

This brew poured out as a hazy looking yellow color, Really nice looking head that fluffs up quickly and laces the glass fairly well. The smell of the beer has a sweet, grainy aroma with hints of lemon in there too. The taste of the beer is light and refreshing. The mouhtfeel is soft and has it fades there is a nice little bite in the end. Overall it's a pretty good brew in my opinion.

Acquired this bottle from the always reliable Joey. I had been most impressed with the Bruery offerings so far and this one was no exception. A lovely 750ml capped bottle. This one was served at cellar temp and split between a few of us in wine glasses. Consumed on 10/03/2008.

The pour was very nice, a light golden amber coming through right away with a nice light haziness to it. Nice carbonation bubbling up throughout the glass creating a nice two inch head of white foam across the top that hung around for what seemed like forever.

The aroma was akin to some kind of spicy green tea at first. Lots of light grain, yeast aromas of fresh leaves and a touch of light citrus sprinkled in. A spiciness I am assuming from the Basil leaves, very intresting aroma for sure. The flavor was light, nicely balanced with a lightly grainy start to it, that turned over to some light fruit, peaches? Maybe green apples, coming through in the middle with that nice light and very fresh leaf like flavor. Hints of spice rippled throughout, especially in the finish which was dry and nicely accented. Intresting light body on this one was accented very well by lush carbonation that kept the profile nice and lively. A nice sipper with the alcohol very well hidden, in fact I had no clue this one was up near 8%.

Overall this was a very nice, light triple. Not the big heavy, alcohol laden ones you see around at times, this was much more of a session worthy ale. I would have no issue with trying this one again, the price is a little biit high, only because of logistics, but if this were local I would have no issue in endulging.

another interesting and delicious offering from the bruery. this one pours a nice light golden color, mostly clear, with a really massive white frothy head with fine retention. the nose is like fresh picked apricots. I know there are none in here, but I don't smell basil or sweet malt at all, not even Belgian yeast really, but fresh apricots, its really tempting and unexpected. the flavor is subtle, not as sweet as most tripels, and yeasty more like a saison. the peppery yeast goes well with the basil, but the basil is way in the back, hardly distinguishable if you didn't know to look for it. the rice seems to add some nice body, as this beer is pretty full for its color. very bright carbonation too. overall a really appealing beer that seems to be just right in early spring. its got the right amount of spice and herbs going on, thus maintaining its drinkability despite its higher abv. as good as expected, the bruery can do no wrong in my book.

Taste: Light, delicate maltiness with a touch of sugary sweetness. Minor fruitiness. Slight herbal pop alongside a pinch of spicy anise. Just a bit of sour yeastiness. Spoonful of risotto. Finishes relatively dry with a bite of crackling carbonation.

Mouthfeel: Medium-plus body. Highly carbonated.

Drinkability: The beer flirts between a high degree of carbonation and Alka-Seltzer straight in the mouth carbonation. Still though, it's fairly tasty and a fine use of non-traditional tripel ingredients.